The Fast Food Fight
by Pixiekorigal
Summary: AU. Doumeki and Watanuki get a job working the tills at a fast food restaurant. Along with Fai, the chirpy chef, Kurogane, the grouchy drive thru operator, Syaoran, the clumsy chip-fryer, the cleaner, Sakura, and Seishiro, their boss, things get messy.
1. Next Customer Please

**Author's Note**: OK, so this was an impulse story, I realise I still have another on the go that I sort of started but didn't go anywhere with, but it WILL be finished…eventually…maybe. Not sure where this one will end up, if anywhere, but so far, pairing undefined (if any!). Ideas and suggestions would be much appreciated. The story will change narrators a lot, so bare with me. Hopefully it's pretty obvious, but just to make it clear, this time, it's Doumeki.

**Disclaimer: **I DO NOT OWN: holic, tsubasa, or any related clamp characters (no matter how many times I asked the genie in the lamp for them). Nor do I own Macdonalds… (which is kind of the fast food restaurant this is based on).

Chapter 1: Next Customer Please

After only 4 weeks at my new job, the words "next customer please" began to become something I said automatically, like saying "moron" to Watanuki. It only took me a short time to get to know the rest of the team who were crazy enough to take on the Saturday afternoon shift. Watanuki and I worked the tills, a chirpy happy-go-lucky young man named Fai did most of the cooking and ice-cream serving, a big burly guy who always had a look that said "I don't wanna be here" plastered over his face was posted on "drive thru" duty, and of course, there was Syaoran, our clumsy chip-fryer. All together this group made for some light amusement that made the job just a little more bearable.

"Today!" Watanuki yelled in my face, pointing an accusing finger towards me.

"Today, what, moron?" Was all I could say in return.

"Today…I WILL serve more customers than YOU!" Now standing on a chair, Watanuki was striking a rather unusual pose, which for him, was nothing short of normal.

"Are you idiots going to have this argument every time?!" Came a large deep voice from the drive thru. He never paid enough attention to us to introduce himself, but Fai, who had known him for many long, painful years as his roommate, informed us that he was known as Kurogane (or Kuropu, Kergy, Kuro-tan, and any other ridiculous nickname you can come up with to piss him off).

My watch bleeped. 1 o'clock. Our shift had begun.

After taking a few seconds to switch places with the other depressed teenagers who worked the morning shift, I proceeded to call "Next customer please" and thus begun another afternoon of solid work.

The first hour was busy. Of course, that's always what we expect at Saturday lunchtime, but I couldn't help but smirk as Watanuki frantically tried to keep tally of how many customers we had each served while at the same time punching the customer's order into the till. He took no notice of the fact I was continuously disinterested in the whole "contest," and taking the time to keep count of the "score" only made him lose faster.

"One Big Mac and large fries!" He called behind him, _carving_ another black mark under his score, setting him comfortably fifteen points behind myself. I said I was disinterested, but that didn't mean winning wasn't a good thing.

"There's plenty of burgers ready behind you Watanuki!" sang Fai. Yes, it was possible for him to sing while talking about burgers. I believe it was a dare from our cleaner, Sakura, to sing-speak all day, as only he could be so immature to accept such a challenge. Since her post was out front instead of behind the counter, I rarely noticed her presence at all. She squeaked occasionally, for one reason or another.

Fai called over to his co-worker- "Syaoran! What about the…" but he was cut off when there was a huge crash followed by a yelp as Syaoran slipped and dipped his hand into the boiling grease. Just at that moment, an excited sound came from Watanuki as a familiar face walked in.

The following excerpts of speech came from two, possibly three different conversations at once, but I couldn't tell really, as I had my fingers plugged into my ears for most of Watanuki's screaming.

"Himawari! How nice of you to drop by and visit while I'm on my shift! Can I get anything for you?"

"I'll pass on that order for you, just head on over to window tw- What the hell Syaoran? Did you just do that, AGAIN?! Hold on there, sir, there may be a slight delay. Our waiter seems to be stuck in the fryer right now."

"Hey there Watanuki, Doumeki, I thought you might like these cupcakes I bought while you're on your break."

"Oh my! Is everything all right over there? I'd help you out, but I'm busy shaping these patties…" *still singing*

"Yeah." (The only word I put in during the whole farce.)

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" *sizzle*

A small voice from Sakura that only I heard over the commotion squeaked in: "Um, can one of you pass over some more straws? Somebody just took the last one…is this a bad time?"

Much of the same continued for another minute or so, before the whole restaurant was brought to silence when the door at the back of the kitchen sprung open, hitting the adjacent wall with an ear-splitting "SLAM" that even turned a few heads of indulging customers. In walked a man you tried to keep away like the plague, our boss, Seishiro.

OOH, SCARY. Please review if you can be bothered to do so, I am DYING for suggestions for this. Chapter 2 is already written, but just needs to be touched up a little. I realise I tend to write in short chapters, so don't get mad about that! Anyway, if you enjoyed it, please tell me and I might consider writing more of it! Thanks for reading!


	2. Caution: Wet Floor

Chapter 2: Caution: Wet Floor

I really didn't see what the problem was. We hadn't done anything wrong. _I _hadn't done anything wrong. Mr Sakurazuka, our relaxed but ominous boss just suddenly burst into the kitchen ordering all of us into his office after the shift. We had all taken a few moments to stare blankly at each other, a certain "few moments" that even piqued the interest of Kurogane from off at the side, who previously hadn't looked round for _anything_. Of course, the silence was broken by that damn Doumeki and his monotonous recital of: "next customer please." The rest of the afternoon had been strangely quiet, even in exchanges between the members of our team.

And now the only exchange that was going on was between each of us and the glare of Seishiro-san's glasses. I was stood closest to the door, enabling me to make a quick escape if necessary, next to the youngest of us, Syaoran, who still had his right hand packed in ice. I was still in disbelief that he was old enough to work legally, even in a place like this. Occasionally he glanced at me, and my peripheral vision showed me a look begging for help. I didn't once stray my eyes from our boss. I swear I saw steam rising from his body, which seemed curiously taller in this situation.

"Right. To my various accusations then." I was glad _someone _finally broke the awkward silence, even if it was the bespectacled man facing us with a fierce glare.

"First up. You, Mr Fai D. Flowrite, head of catering, I do not tolerate singing on the job."

Fai shot him a shocked and innocent look in reply.

"Nextly, Watanuki Kimihiro, Doumeki Shizuka, sales assistants. I believe that _both _of you were engaging in ludicrous light conversation with a customer. Unacceptable, to say the least."

Doumeki's eyes narrowed. I simply retreated even further into myself at the comment.

"And most ridiculous of all is you, Syaoran, assistant caterer. I'm actually almost rather impressed that you managed to get more of that simmering lard on yourself than on the chips. The next time an accident happens in the kitchen, I'll know it's you. Perhaps we should consider hiring a first aid team. You're lucky that young Sakura came to your aid. Which brings me to my next point. Miss Sakura, please don't waste your valuable working time cleaning up their mess and get your own job done."

A few mouths fell open when the boss finally finished his short lecture. Exactly how many contradictions were included in that section of speech?

"What about me? If you've got nothing to say, I'm leaving." I had almost forgot Kurogane was there, much less the fact that he was standing on the other side of me.

There was a brief silence while Seishiro-san put together his thoughts and as it seemed, also for the first time acknowledged the tallest man's presence, before simply stating, to everyone's surprise: "Good job."

I looked up at him. He smirked before gesturing himself out. The door closed loudly and awkwardly behind him. I glanced over at Doumeki questioningly. He shrugged. Fai and Sakura simultaneously squeaked at the awkwardness (on the same wavelength?). Syaoran looked at his feet and played with his hair. Once again, the boss interrupted.

"Well then, it's getting on a bit. I'll see you all next week. Goodnight!"

None of us were mentally prepared to challenge Mr Sakurazuka's sudden change of heart. We all filed out of his office in a painfully slow motion and bolted as soon as his door shut behind us. Upon reading something the next shift's cleaner had put up, we all slowed before speeding up a few seconds later. Fai called back to the one furthest behind: "By the way Syaoran, you'd better watch out for that-" Crash.

Inevitably, Syaoran fell face flat into the floor. He looked up, confused, while Doumeki read out the big yellow sign next to him. "Caution: wet floor." I sighed in frustration and headed for the door. Himawari was standing outside waiting for us.

------------

Okay, so it was another short chapter and not much happened, I just liked the way it ended and just had to leave it there. Hopefully the next few chapters won't be as short! Please review! I like knowing what needs to be improved, I know it's not perfect! And once again, more ideas would be appreciated! Don't expect updates until weekends, thanks!


	3. Would You Like Fries With That?

Chapter 3: Would you like fries with that?

I had been working for peanuts at this fast food restaurant for some time now. Even still, I managed to screw up every time: falling over, dropping things, burning myself, and a menu of other disasters that only hindered the work of the other young men and girl I worked alongside. I was lucky that Kurogane bailed me out every time Mr Sakurazuka, our contradictive boss had a go at me. Today was no different from any other Saturday afternoon, with customers poking in and out by the second, and orders flying through the kitchen.

"And would you like fries with that?" I heard Watanuki say from the counter.

I always dreaded that line. As Seishiro-appointed chip-fryer, I had to fry the chips in grease, and put them into the boxes, before stacking them up to be collected by one of my co-workers at the tills. It always ended in a spillage of some kind, whether on myself or the floor, generally followed by a greeting from that long, spiral-haired girl who seems to pop in to see the cashiers. Something about her sent shivers throughout my body, only making me clumsier. But on this occasion, things turned out slightly differently.

"Why yes, I would!" Replied the familiar voice of our "customer".

"YAAAHH!" I shrieked, jumping into the air with my hand still on the fryer handle, sending steaming splashes in several directions.

"Hm?" Doumeki, the second cashier who I'd come to know as a rather silent and stoic character, turned and raised an eyebrow. Watanuki sighed, while Kurogane groaned and Fai giggled simultaneously. Their repetitive co-ordinated reactions had begun to irritate me somewhat.

"Y-Yuko-san!" I breathed, regaining my balance, all the while trying not to sound terrified.

"Um…who?" Watanuki questioned, looking puzzled.

"Yuko Ichihara, of course. The _manager_. Our boss's boss in other words." Fai informed. Kurogane handed over another drive thru order pretending not to notice the new presence.

"Oh! Uhh…" Watanuki seemed lost for words, but I couldn't blame him.

"Nice to meet you, Ms Yuko." Doumeki cut in.

"Oooh! Just look at you all! Hard at work!" laughed the hyperactive woman.

I could tell by that comment that she was only here to make our job harder. After finally processing her order, she proceeded to set us tasks in order to "analyse our performance." This wasn't going to go well.

"I can see that you have your hands full, but I just happened to bring along some of my friends today," she began, causing groaning from Kurogane's position, "so, since there's too many to come and sit in here, some of them will keep you two lovely new till-boys working, while the others will take the drive thru. Just so you don't feel left out, big boy!"

"GAH!" Kurogane yelled, thrusting a bag at a rather confused and innocent customer.

Fai looked happy to receive a challenge, if more than he did already, while Watanuki seemed to find this an opportunity to increase his tally of customers for the day. Doumeki, his rival in the contest, simply nodded and began serving the flood of new customers. After taking a minute to regain myself I started slowly and carefully making large amounts of fries. Not before long, complaints started flying throughout the kitchen, even from Fai.

"Ahh! My dainty little fingers are getting tired from shaping all these burgers!" Fai whined.

"Shutup, you! Why don't you try _this_ job over here?!" retorted Kurogane.

"Hm? What's this? A bet? I bet Kerger-berger couldn't make a _single _burger!"

"Hah! It's on, chef!"

After serving his current customer, Kurogane and Fai traded places, as promised. I didn't want to take my eyes off the fryer, but this was going to be interesting.

"Good afternoon! May I take your order?" were the delightful words I heard from Fai for the next few hours, as he began to thoroughly enjoy being paid to sit in a chair while everyone else did the work.

"One, two, three…hmm." I could hear Kurogane counting how many patties he had made in the background. Despite looking totally lost at first, he had finally begun to get the hang of his own new job and was putting in much concentration. It was the first time I had ever seen him so hard at work, taking it so seriously and almost looking like he was enjoying it. It was starting to look like their little swap was a good idea.

Meanwhile, Yuko's many "friends" were still coming and going, and things were busy on the opposite side of the kitchen. Watanuki had obviously been losing their contest yet again, and was frantically trying to serve customers quickly, making himself look very stupid, and almost amusing. I had been focussing hard on my own job, and hadn't had any accidents in a while. Feeling slightly more confident than usual, I carelessly allowed my attention to wander when I heard an unusual comment from Doumeki.

"If there's some sort of problem with your burger, then direct your complaints to the chef."

The disappointed customer looked through into the kitchen to try and get the attention of the one now called "chef". Everyone in the kitchen's eyes landed on Kurogane, who had his own eyes fixed on his latest patty, pretending not to notice. It was when Fai let out a victorious chuckle that he finally snapped.

"Fine! I get it! So I can't cook! Well at least we've all proved something today; glad you've all enjoyed yourselves. Now give me my own job back you whining cook!"

Fai and Watanuki laughed as Kurogane swapped positions again with Fai. As I laughed myself, I lost my concentration and guess what? I fell in the grease again. Just then Yuko burst through the front door to check up on us.

"Bwahahahaha! Looks like we're all having fun in here!"

Everyone looked up and turned to face the ridiculous woman who came in clothed rather inappropriately for the weather, except for Kurogane, who did his usual job of pretending not to notice.

"I just had the most wonderful idea! Today, the restaurant will close early, and you all will come to my wonderful mansion for a par-tay! Staff not invited of course, you can just get off early." Her voice lowered as she turned to face the kitchen and saw the mess I had gotten myself into. "All except for you, Syaoran. I'm sure you won't mind staying behind to clear up? Good! Bwahahaha!"

She left as quickly as she had come, followed by her endless procession of "friends". I didn't even want to try and work out where any of these random people came from. Silence fell on the kitchen as the last person drifted out of the door leaving the restaurant empty.

"Well, see ya." Kurogane finally said after we all spent a few minutes exchanging glances. Fai and Sakura soon left together after saying their own goodbyes, shortly followed by Doumeki, and finally Watanuki, after he insisted several times to help me.

Sakura had already done a good enough job, so cleaning didn't take as long as I thought. Even still, it was winter already and dark outside by the time I had finished. When I had locked up, it started to rain. I took out my phone to check the time. Half past four. At least I only had to wait half an hour.

"Hey." Came a familiar voice from the darkness.

"Oh, Doumeki. Why are you still around? I thought you'd left already."

"I wanted to talk to you. Do you need a ride, though? I have a car."

It was the first time I had ever spoken to him. He seemed like a much nicer person face-to-face, and he spoke in a much kinder tone to me than to Watanuki.

"No, that's fine, I order a taxi to pick me up at five anyway. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"You seem like something's bothering you here. If you're not happy with the job, then why keep it?"

His question hit me hard. It wasn't something I wanted to explain to someone who I saw as little more than a stranger. I tried to hide it, but I must have looked like a real picture as drops of rain fell from my hair to my cheeks like tears. He must have understood me, but his next actions were the most surprising of all.

"It's fine if you don't want to answer me, but I have just one more question…"

As he finished his last syllable, he leaned in close to me, stared calmly into my dazzled eyes, and for just a second, placed his warm, soft lips to mine, before finishing saying: "Would you like fries with that?"

***

Ah! OMG! *****shieldsself*** **Don't shoot! Am I crazy? This very risky pairing has been stalking me! I hope I haven't ruined the atmosphere of this story by adding that little twist at the end! Hooray! I included Yuko in this! It was actually a longer chapter this time, so am very proud of this one.

PS: For anyone who might be fortunate enough to live in a place where it doesn't get dark at 4:30pm, it does happen, so please do not make any snarky comments about that. Thanks anyway for reading up til now!


	4. The Sunday Shift

Chapter 4: The Sunday Shift (Narrator: Kurogane)

The Sunday shift was always quieter, what without that annoying bespectacled teenager and his rival cashier. Instead, we had twins on the tills. One was a calm and polite boy and the other was an insane girl who didn't know how to shut up. Anything was better than that Watanuki anyway. At least without him the wavy-haired girl didn't pop in and out. It hadn't taken me long to work out that her appearances were the cause of about nine out of ten of Syaoran's mishaps.

The morning had snailed by as usual, with several middle-aged hung over men dragging themselves in for the "full English". As my lunch-break came to an end, the "part-timers" began to stroll in. Great, that could only mean…

"Afternoon Kuro-tan!" came the dreaded squeal of the afternoon chef.

"I have every right to beat you every time you use one of those ridiculous nicknames!"

He was shortly followed by the young and clumsy chip-fryer, who was looking even more lost in thought than usual.

"What's eating you, kid?" I asked, fully expecting the wrong answer.

He looked at his feet before muttering, "Um…nothing, really." I could have sworn there was a pinkish tinge to his cheeks but it was probably just the lighting.

"You're not mad about having to clean up yesterday are you Syaoran-kun?" quizzed the nicknamer, teasingly. What a stupid question, we both knew fine well that the kid was completely incapable of expressing such an emotion.

Suddenly Syaoran lit up and wearing his usual expression declared: "No! Of course not! I really don't mind doing a little extra cleaning!" This time I'm sure his face was red, and I even let out a small chuckle at the thought.

Finally my watch beeped 1 o'clock and we all wandered out to our positions. Unsurprisingly, the twin cashiers were already swiftly taking orders, making Syaoran and Fai's jobs all the more difficult. To my dismay, there were a few cars pulling up to my window as well. I suppose it's what I'm paid for.

"Two cheeseburgers." I called over to Fai, not daring to look over as I did so. The request sent him off, as he came dancing over and giggled as he bragged: "Waaaay ahead of you, Kuro-pu!" _What_? Another nickname _already_? "And here's some I made earlier!" he sang, handing over two well-wrapped cheeseburgers.

"Have a good day sir," I said through gritted teeth as I handed over the order.

When the car drove away I managed to steal an enraged glare at the joker of a chef before the next customer pulled up. Sometimes I envied the others' slightly more varied jobs as I sat in my chair taking and giving endless orders, but since I have absolutely no experience in cooking and wasn't in Seishiro's dreams gonna be a delivery boy, it was going to be monotonous crap until I got myself a better job. I even requested to switch to cashier, but according to the boss, that was for the young ones with the cute faces. His words, not mine.

After about an hour, things had died down as they do when lunchtime's been and gone. There was only the occasional customer and the drive thru was pretty much empty. I was enjoying the short period of peace until it was interrupted.

"Aw, Kuro-rin looks so bored over there! Why don't we play a little game?"

"I don't like the sound of that." I said carelessly, still staring out of the window.

"My my! How could you think such awful things Kuro-tan? I meant like a fun game! It's called 'guess the tune'! It's sure to help pass the time."

"Oh I've played that!" Subaru, the normally quiet cashier had overheard the cook, and decided to join in.

"Oh me too! I wanna play!" As did Hokuto, eager not to miss a single thing that went on around here.

"What about you, Syaoran?" Fai asked to the one I'd almost forgotten was still there.

"No thanks, I'm no good at singing, and there's no way I could guess any of the songs, sorry."

"Count me out." I grumbled, going back to dozing off. There was no way in hell I was doing any singing.

"Okay! I'll go first! Then Kuro-buro can join in when he knows the rules!"

I made a point of ignoring that last part. Next thing I knew, Fai had started to sing, delivering the first few lyrics of said "tune". I was shocked at how good he was, when he wasn't putting on that playfully annoying singing voice he used in his games with Sakura, and couldn't help turning round.

**Nobody on the run, nobody on the beach…**

He had barely got into the first line before Hokuto burst out with the song's name.

"The Boys of Summer!" she yelled, applauding herself for jumping in first.

"Correct!" Fai shouted in a gameshow host's voice, "Point to Hokuto!"

Hokuto quickly took control of the game, singing a song of her own.

**This was never the way I planned…**

This time it was of course her brother that came out with the answer.

"I Kissed a Girl!" He quickly silenced himself after realising the obvious pun he'd just made, and after Fai and Hokuto lost themselves in a fit of laughter, they resumed play. I had already found myself absorbed in their fun, curious as to what songs each person would sing. They seemed to be revealing more about the person than their musical tastes.

_**Back to the street where we began…**_Subaru sang, and I instantly recognised the song, and without thinking, blurted out:

"Oh I know this one it's…" and trailed off as I realised what I'd just gotten myself into.

"If you know the answer just say it Kuro-pipi!"

"Shut the hell up! It's Nine in the Afternoon…"

"That means it's your turn Kergs!"

Shit, look what you've done you idiot, I thought to myself, and not wanting to disappoint, I quickly came up with a song to get it over with.

_**Somewhere there's speaking, it's already coming in…**_I started, but I barely had a chance before all three of the others came out with the answer simultaneously:

"Everything you want!"

My mouth was left hanging open, speechless, and I was genuinely surprised that I had picked a song known so well by all three of the other participants. For a moment I actually believed I could get along with this crowd.

Sure enough, 5pm came and it was time to hand it over to the nutters on the night shift. Since there was no appointed cleaner on Sundays, it was up to us to decide who got the short straw. Subaru and Hokuto had done it together the previous week, and after much persuasion we managed to convince Syaoran that it was unfair for him to clean two days in a row. It just couldn't be coincidence that the dirty work was left between me and that bastard cook. I was sure that Yuko had a word for it…

"Oooh, I know! Let's do rock-paper-scissors!" Fai flailed about excitedly at his own suggestion.

"WHAT?" I yelled, clearly showing that I wasn't interested in any more games. As I shouted, I waved a clenched fist towards the blonde, who in turn produced a gentle karate chop.

"Heehee! I won!" Fai jumped up and down victoriously.

"What are you talking about?"

"Paper beats rock!" Fai explained pointing at my fist.

"WHAT THE HE…GET BACK HERE!" But before I could finish yelling, the younger had dashed off out of the restaurant and into the street.

What's this? I've finally updated? NO WAI! Sorry it's taken so long! Every time I received one of those "x has added your story to his story alerts" emails, I felt so guilty for having sort of given up on this fic. So FINALLY, I managed to come up with a little inspiration after reading WAY too many songfics! Oh yes I AM cruel for leaving Doumeki out of this chapter, but I had to give Kuro a chance to narrate and I found it really difficult to keep him in character all the way through. Don't worry though, I'll definitely get back to _that _scenario! Hopefully I won't enter another year-long writer's block and update sooner, but since I'm in my final year of school I've got a lot of work to do!

Just in case, songs: The Boys of Summer- The Ataris, I Kissed a girl- Katy Perry, Nine in the Afternoon- Panic at the Disco and Everything You Want- Vertical Horizon, NONE of which are mine!


	5. The Break Room

Chapter 5: The Break Room

Fingers crossed, I placed the cup under the milkshake dispenser. Letting out a held breath, I gently pushed the button showing a picture of a little red cup, and sure enough strawberry flavoured goo started to fill up the cup. I smiled as the milkshake made its way to the top of the cup…and right over the edge, onto the machine and eventually, all over the floor.

"AHH! YOU STUPID MACHINE! NO MORE DAMMIT!"

Mid-way through getting an order, Doumeki casually came over and pressed the red-cup button again, stopping the machine. Damn that self-righteous multi-tasker. I looked down at the horrendous mess that now covered a large portion of the kitchen floor. Frustrated, I slapped the machine. "CURSE YOU MILKSHAKE MACHINE! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"

I heard an evil chuckle from behind. Seishiro-san dropped the handle of a wet mop into my hand before disappearing again into his office.

That was about all the drama for one Saturday evening. Following some kind of "meeting", which was really Seishiro and Yuko giggling over apple pies, weekend shifts and roles were somewhat mixed up. Two new part-timers were hired: Toya and Yukito. The former took up fries, moving Syaoran to join Doumeki and I on tills, while the latter joined Fai on the grill, making for some needless entertainment. While I agree with those being completely rational decisions (reducing the number of injuries to Syaoran significantly), the rest is totally stupid. Firstly, Kurogane and Sakura switched places (causing endless complaints) and even worse, an extra 3 hours were added onto my shift, meaning that I was still on the till at 7pm, when business becomes rather slow. On top of that, the same shift change was applied to Doumeki, only increasing the amount of time I had to endure with him.

After mopping up the last of the evil that is milkshake, I plopped down a wet floor sign, knowing that if I didn't, there would just be another reason for Syaoran to express his clumsiness. The right index finger of Seishiro-san then proceeded to emerge from behind the office door as his voice ordered: "You, you- break time."

Said finger indicated Syaoran and I (how, I do not know) and so without asking any questions, the two of us grabbed some food and made for the break room.

Sitting down, I let out a satisfied sigh. The break room was an intriguing place as it had the ability to harbour varying atmospheres. In the absence of any company, it was a great place to get some well-deserved peace and quiet mid-shift. And then, depending on who else was on their break at the same time, it could be fun, awkward, or downright annoying. Incidentally, I had never been alone on my break with Syaoran before. As the minutes began to pass, the break room went from its "peace and quiet" atmosphere, to more of the "awkward" kind. Something had to be said.

"That Doumeki is a total jerk! Too bad for him he's the only one on the tills now, right?"

Surprisingly, Syaoran blushed and gave a sheepish nod. What was that reaction about? Syaoran hadn't known Doumeki as long as me, so I thought a change of subject was a good idea.

"You're normally the cause of accidents and spillages, right Syaoran? So what do you think of that devil-spawn milkshake machine?"

Suddenly it seemed as though he was finally with me. Perking up, he chuckled a little before politely agreeing with every nickname I produced for all the machines in that place. Forget the milkshake dispenser, nothing was more annoying than the snail-pace hot drinks maker, or the unpredictable ice-cream server. Following that, I continued by bitching about the fact that the toffee and strawberry sauce tubs were _always_ empty whenever I needed to use them. Syaoran seemed to cheer up at hearing my endless rants, and proved somewhat a good listener.

Just as the enjoyable atmosphere of the break room began to surface, it was immediately shattered by the infuriating "SLAM" of the inside of the door hitting the opposite wall and revealed the all too familiar scowl of Kurogane, complete with brand new cleaning uniform.

"You're on your break too, Kurogane-san?" An all too obvious question from Syaoran, as Kurogane proceeded to seat himself with his dinner at the empty table on the other side of the room.

Not wanting to introduce an awkward silence, I then added a stupid question of my own.

"So how's the cleaning going?"

"It would be so much better if some people didn't constantly fall out with various machines."

"Hey! I cleaned that up myself!"

"As if that makes any difference. That sadist boss of ours makes me re-clean the whole floor anyway."

As soon as the boss was mentioned, it was apparent that both of us had come up with the same crazy idea, though I wasn't sure about Syaoran, who had begun staring into space. Knowing Kurogane wouldn't admit he had the same immature thoughts, I decided to start it off.

"Hey Syaoran, who's logged in to that computer?"

AN: I'm back! And with new material! Why? Guess where I got a job…

I got the idea for this chapter weeks ago, and while narrating as Watanuki, I pretty much was being me- yes I do have something of a problem with that milkshake machine. Annoyingly, this chapter didn't seem to write very well and I'm still not entirely happy with it but well…I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway!


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